An Everlasting Friendship
by scottedog43
Summary: When Rin was little, nobody wanted to be his friend. The only person he had to play with was his brother, but what happens when Yukio can't go to school and a curious new girl shows up? This is the story of Rin and Aelita and how a chance encounter can turn into an everlasting friendship. (Ohoho, title drop.) This is an old story I wrote on another site with minor edits. Rin/OC
1. 1 - His FIrst Friend

Rin sat in the corner of his classroom, alone, hugging his knees to his chest. He watched sadly as the other kids in the classroom were running around, playing and having fun. When kids got too close to him they eyed him warily before running as fast as they could away from him.

"Why did Yukio have to be sick today?" Rin mumbled to himself sadly, wiping a tear from his face.

Everybody in his class was afraid of him. They thought he was a demon. He was very strong for his age causing other kids to be intimidated. Rin also got mad easily which lead to many frightening tantrums. Any kid that could throw tables across rooms when he got angry was not to be messed with. So to stay on the safe side, kids avoided him thinking he could snap at any moment.

There was only one child that would play with him; his twin brother Yukio, but today Rin sat alone. His brother came down with a cold and had to stay home today leaving Rin with nobody to play with.

As Rin sulked, a new girl in class glanced at him from time to time, thinking about whether or not he'd like to play with her. She was sitting at a table by herself, going through her toys she brought from home. Well, they weren't actually toys; they were all small puzzle erasers. While most students used the tiny, colorful characters to erase away mistakes made on paper, she enjoyed taking them apart, mixing them around, and then putting them back together.

Aelita had quite a collection and she smiled at it proudly as she sat them up in a line to make a rainbow of erasers. She had with her a frog, panda, bird, cow, hamster, popsicle, cake, sushi, and a teddy bear. She had more at home as well.

Once she felt her line of erasers was set up to satisfaction she took them apart and scattered them around the table. She continued doing this until, finally, after putting them together for a third time, she decided she'd share her collection with Rin. Another glance at him, however, made her pause. The sight of such a sad boy distancing himself from all the other kids confused her, but she was determined to figure out why he was sad. She took a deep breath before quietly approaching a group of boys playing with toy cars nearby. One of the boys looked up from their table and smiled, waving a car at her.

"Hey! You're the new kid! Aelita right? Want to play cars?" the boy asked.

"Um, no. Sorry, but… c-can one of you tell me who that boy is?" the girl asked as she pointed to Rin.

"Oh, him?" The biggest boy said, lowering his voice, "That kid is a demon."

"Don't say that we told you though! He might try and eat us!" another boy pitched in slamming his palms on the table.

Aelita looked back at Rin. "He doesn't look like a demon, he looks sad."

"That's how he lures you in! Then he attacks you!" the first boy said. "But he doesn't scare me, if he does anything again sensei will call his daddy!" he grinned, crossing his arms across his chest proudly.

"And whenever somebody talks to him they get awful luck! You might even die!" another boy chimed in.

"Well I'm going to talk to him," the girl said and she grabbed her bag of erasers and walked towards Rin.

The boys yelled at her to stop but were silenced when they looked at the demon boy.

Aelita stopped a few steps away from the boy and gazed down at him curiously. She was a strange girl, not interested in things most girls were interested in. She didn't like dolls, pink, or dresses (though her mother made her wear one to school today). Instead she liked ghosts and scary stories which made her very interested in this so called "demon" boy.

Rin kept his face hidden in his arms and mumbled, "What do you want?"

"Um, d-do… you wanna play with m-me?" she asked quietly. She was a brave girl, but when it came to talking to people she didn't know, she got nervous.

Rin gazed at her through his messy black bangs, "What did you say?"

"W-well, you seemed lonely so… do you wanna play?"

Rin shook his hair out of his crystal blue eyes, "You aren't just trying to trick me are you?" he grumbled.

"O-of course not, um…" she fumbled around in her bag. "Look, I brought some puzzle erasers," she said, holding out her popsicle, teddy bear, and cow eraser in her tiny hand.

He looked curiously at the girl, then at the erasers in her hand.

"G-go on, take them. We can play with them," she said, reaching her hand closer to his face.

Rin grabbed them and smiled, "Cool! A popsicle!"

Aelita smiled too, "You like popsicles?"

He nodded and started to take apart the colorful pieces of rubber. "You know these are just erasers, right?"

"They aren't fun if you use them just for erasing," she frowned, "Besides, I don't erase my mistakes. I scribble them out so the teacher knows I learned something and fixed my mistake! She won't know if I erase it," Aelita said as she dumped out the rest of her erasers and began to take them apart.

Rin shrugged, finishing up with the few erasers Aelita had handed him. When he was done, he gazed curiously at the girl across from him as she continued to take apart her erasers. She didn't seem like most of the girls that went to his school. She had on a white dress trimmed with light blue that matched the bow around her waist. There was dirt smeared on the skirt of her dress where she must have tried to clean off her hands. On one knee she had a large bandage and the other was covered in dry mud. Her emerald green eyes glimmered with curiosity and kindness. Overall Rin thought she looked pretty cool, for a girl anyway.

Aelita finished with a smile, "Done! Now I should explain how this game works!"

"There are rules?" Rin whined.

"Of course! This is my game!" she said proudly.

"Fiiiine…" Rin grumbled.

The girl giggled, "C'mon! It's easy! Put as many as you can together and whoever has the most wins."

"Oh, that_ is_ easy! I'll win for sure!" he grinned.

"Doubt it," Aelita said, sticking her tongue out at Rin. "I play this all the time. Now, let's go!"

The two fumbled around with the tiny pieces, putting them together with determination. Their piles kept growing and growing, one colorful eraser after another being carelessly tossed to the side. To Rin's disappointment he found he was losing so he reached quickly for the last piece, Aelita grabbing onto his hand in an effort to get it away from him.

"Hey! I have the other pieces that go with that! Give it here!" she whined.

"No! I need it or I'll lose!" he whined in return.

The two began to fight, tumbling over each other as they tried to obtain the other child's pieces. In their fight they destroyed their piles of completed erasers, getting everything mixed up. Finally, the two managed to piece the final eraser together in their effort to capture their opponent's piece. With that they looked at each other, dumbfounded, each holding on to half of the eraser before they began to laugh. Their laughter earned some weary glances from the other kids, but the pair didn't notice; they simply laughed until their eyes teared up and their sides cramped.

After a few minutes of tear-inducing laughter, the two settled down, wearing large smiles even when their laughter stopped. Without a word, Aelita stuck her hand in Rin's face, her fingers outstretched to reveal the little blue popsicle eraser in her hand that they had fought over.

"Take it," she said, her smile never leaving her face.

Rin looked at the eraser, then back at her. "You want me to keep it?"

Aelita nodded. "It can be your prize for winning!"

"But, I didn't win…" Rin said with confusion.

"You did too, look at your erasers," she pointed at his pile.

During all their rolling around and fighting they scattered up the erasers causing most of them to end up in Rin's pile.

"I won? But, that's only becau-" he was interrupted by Aelita tackling him.

"You won, now shut up before I keep your prize!" she stuck her tongue out at him.

Rin looked at the girl laying on top of him in confusion before nodding, "Okay, I won then."

Aelita rolled off of him and once again stuck the eraser in his face, "My name is Aelita!"

Rin took the eraser from her hand and smiled, "I'm Rin!"

Aelita sat cross legged in front of Rin as he sat up to do the same, "So does this mean we're friends now?" the girl asked.

This took Rin by surprise. Friends? Nobody wanted to be his friend.

"C'mon! That's not a hard question to answer," she said.

"I-I guess so," Rin mumbled in confusion.

Aelita's face lit up, "Great!"

She dug through the pile of erasers still on the floor before pulling out a popsicle just like Rin's only this one was pink.

"I don't really like pink, but now we have matching erasers! So you'll have to keep yours forever and I'll keep mine forever and then, even if one of us moves, we'll always remember each other," she said, a goofy grin making its way to her face.

Rin smiled as well, Aelita's happiness was rather contagious. "Right, I'll keep mine forever then!"

He tightened his grip on the small little eraser, Aelita loved her erasers and now she entrusted one of her precious erasers to him. Rin looked at the girl who, in turn, looked at him with a grin. Rin never wanted to forget her, so he would keep the eraser forever, treating it as if it were part of Aelita. He'd never forget his first friend.


	2. 2 - Pinky Promise

School was getting close to finishing for the day and Rin found himself actually regretting it. He and Aelita sat beside each other, their backpacks in their laps as they shoved their toys and school books inside them.

"Hey Aelita?" Rin asked.

"Hm?" she responded as she tried to zip her stuffed backpack closed.

"Why did you start school so late?" he asked.

"Oh! Because my family moves around a lot for their work," she stated.

"Really? That must be fun!" Rin said, images of huge adventures popping into his head.

"Well sometimes it's fun, but because of it I don't get to make a lot of friends," she said as she plopped her backpack on the floor beside her, giving up on getting it zipped.

"Oh…" Rin said, "Where have you lived?"

"Lots and lots of places! I was born in Paris, that is a huge city in France where people speak funny and they have this really huge tower!" she spread her arms wide to show Rin how big it was before continuing. "Then when I was two we moved to Germany, and then when I turned four we moved from place to place around the world, never actually living in a house. We stayed in a lot of cool hotels and also some really small ones in the middle of nowhere before coming to Japan this year! We've lived here for a few months now, and we just finished unpacking so my parents decided it was about time I started school," she said, planting her hands in her lap.

"Wow! You must've seen the whole world by now!" Rin exclaimed.

"I think I'm close, but I don't wanna travel anymore," she pouted.

"Why?" Rin asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"That's obvious dummy! Because I made a friend here," she said, poking him on the forehead.

Rin swatted her hand away gently with a laugh, "Okay, okay! I get it."

"Good," Aelita said, putting her hands back in her lap.

"What are your parents' jobs?" Rin asked.

"They don't tell me, but I think they must be secret agents! Why else would we move around so much? It must because we're on the run from bad guys," she said quietly, just in case some bad guys were nearby.

"No way! That's so cool!" Rin exclaimed.

"Sssh!" Aelita covered his mouth, "Not so loud!"

"Ffffmmm!" Rin mumbled.

Aelita uncovered his mouth, "What?"

"I said, fiiine!"

"Oh," she giggled.

Aelita looked over at the door and noticed that some of the kids were being picked up so she sat her bag back in her lap to try and zip it up again.

"Here, I'll do it," Rin said as he grabbed Aelita's back pack.

"I don't think you'll be able to, it's really hard," she said.

Rin zipped it easily and grinned, "I thought you said it was hard!"

"Whoa! You must be really strong!" she exclaimed, staring at her bag in disbelief.

Rin laughed and flexed, "I don't see any muscles."

Aelita poked his arm, "There's gotta be some there!"

As the two prodded Rin's arm they were engulfed by the shadow of a tall man, his eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses.

"I don't know, he seems sort of scrawny to me," the man said.

Rin crossed his arms and huffed, "Shut up, dad! I have muscles, they are just hiding."

The man laughed, "Why are they hiding? Are they scared of your ego?"

"Ego? Like the waffles?" Aelita asked Rin in confusion. [1]

Rin shook his head and tried to explain what ego meant but was interrupted by his father.

"Hello there miss," Rin's dad chimed in. "I'm Rin's dad, father Fujimoto, and who might you be?" the man said, crouching down to get a better view of the children.

"O-oh, I'm-" she was interrupted as Rin butted in.

"Don't bug her you old geezer! Aelita doesn't like strangers!"

Rin's dad just laughed at Rin and the confused girl beside him.

"Hey Rin?" Aelita whispered, "Why is your dad wearing a dress?"

Father Fujimoto looked at her, feigning hurt, "This is no dress! This is my priestly attire!"

Rin laughed as Aelita spluttered out an apology to Father Fujimoto who just patted her on the head saying, "Don't worry about it!"

Then he turned to Rin, "Are you ready to go?"

"What? No way! We have to wait until Aelita's parents pick her up!" Rin whined.

"Ooooh, so is she your new girlfriend~?"

Rin punched his father in the stomach, "NO! You weirdo!"

The man just laughed and agreed to wait for Aelita's parents before going to talk to the teacher.

"Pfft, that man is so stupid," Rin grumbled.

"Why are you so mean to your dad?" Aelita asked.

"I'm not being mean! He's the mean one!" he pouted.

Aelita just laughed in response, "You guys have a weird relationship!"

"Well isn't that what parents do? They like to make fun of their kids?" he asked.

"I don't know, my parents are always nice to me. I guess they do tease me sometimes," she agreed.

Rin and Aelita continued to talk about their families as they waited for Aelita's parents to show up. Rin told her all about his twin brother, Yukio, and how he was sick today. "Which is weird, because he wants to be a doctor. You would think he'd know to wash his hands and stuff," he shook his head, "He's got some learning to do, but I think he'll make a great doctor one day."

"Wow, you must really care about him," Aelita smiled thoughtfully, "I wish I had a brother or sister."

"Maybe you'll get one someday?" Rin offered.

"Maybe," Aelita shrugged.

Not wanting to dwell on the subject, Rin urged the girl to tell him some stories of her adventures. She agreed to tell him a few, but they were all somewhat exaggerated.

"That's when we slid down the snowy mountain into the sea! It was hard to swim with all those baggy snow clothes, but my parents had a life raft," she finished, a large grin tugging at her lips.

"Wow, weren't you scared?"

"A bit, yeah, but my parents are super cool and they protected me," Aelita said. "Now how about we go outside and I'll show you how to mountain climb!"

Rin nodded in excitement, and the small brunette grabbed his hand, pulling him outside to play. To their disappointment, there wasn't a mountain to climb, so they played hide and seek until they ran out of hiding spots. Then they dug around in the bushes in search of snakes. Being unsuccessful in their search, they decided to climb a nearby tree.

"Climbing trees has to be somewhat similar to mountain climbing," Aelita thought aloud, "They're really tall."

This tree was rather short though, so instead Rin made tree climbing into a game. Whoever made it to the top first would win. It sounded like fun so they tried it out, but Aelita quickly got sick of it since her dress kept getting snagged in the branches. Instead of climbing trees they decided to lie under the tree, looking up at the sunlight peeking through the leaves.

Just as Aelita thought of another game to play, Rin's dad came out of the school and called them over to him. The two got up and raced to Father Fujimoto.

"I win!" Rin cheered as he came to a halt in front of his father.

"No fair! I tripped!" Aelita whined.

"Then don't trip next time," Rin teased.

Aelita stuck her tongue out at him and Father Fujimoto laughed at them both.

"Well you guys don't get bored, do you? You've been playing for an hour," he notified them.

"A whole hour?" Rin asked.

His dad nodded.

"Maybe my parents don't know what time to pick me up yet, I'll just walk home then," Aelita shrugged.

"Oh no you don't! Not unless Rin and I come with you," Father Fujimoto said.

"Yeah! You could be captured by those bad guys if you go alone!" Rin added.

Aelita put her finger to her lips to remind Rin to keep quiet about bad guys before agreeing to let them accompany her.

"I'll lead the way!" Aelita said as she skipped ahead.

She didn't live too far away from school, it barely took five minutes for them to reach her street. But five minutes was long enough to make Aelita tire herself out with skipping. So as they grew near to her house she slowed down to walk with Rin, Father Fujimoto following behind them quietly.

"Aelita?" Rin whispered.

"Hm?" she responded, looking curiously at the boy beside her.

"Will you be coming back to school tomorrow?" he asked, glancing back nervously to make sure his dad hadn't heard him.

Aelita noticed Rin seemed serious about his question so she stepped in front of Rin who stumbled to a halt a few inches from her. She then proceeded to stick her pinky finger in his face. He just looked at in confusion.

"I'll be back tomorrow, pinky promise," she smiled.

Rin hesitantly stuck his pinky finger out and Aelita took it in hers. "Then it's settled, I'll see you tomorrow!" Before Rin could say anything Aelita took off running towards her house across the street.

Rin could never tell what she would do next. Whenever he was sad or too serious she would brighten the mood by doing something that he would never expect. Of course, he couldn't say he cared all that much about how weird she was. He was just glad Aelita could always cheer him up.

Rin watched her run off, a small smile making its way to his face. When she got to her front door she turned back around and waved before disappearing into her house. Behind Rin, Father Fujimoto was also smiling; he could tell Rin really liked this girl but he decided not to tease Rin about it for a while. He was just happy to see that he made a friend.


	3. 3 - No Return

**This is the first story I've posted on fanfiction so I apologize for my lack of notes and stuff in my chapters. I thought there was a way to type them up on the website like the old one I was on, but there wasn't, so here's my first note! For any of you that recognize this story from another site, it's because this is the same story. Luna is shutting down so I edited it a bit and moved it here. Now, this chapter is sad and maybe a bit creepy? I dunno, depends on who you are. I figured I'd warn you all. That's it for now, thanks for reading!**

Aelita leaned against the front door to her house, wondering why Rin would get so serious sometimes. She really hated to see him get so down.

"I think I made my point to him though," she said with a smile.

After one last peak out the window to spy on Rin, Aelita looked around her house. It seemed quiet and the only light in the house came from the setting sun filtering through the windows. Aelita slipped off her shoes and walked towards the kitchen to grab a snack, but she stopped when she saw her empty bowl of cereal still on the counter from that morning. Her mom would always clean up the kitchen before leaving for work.

The young girl pondered this for a moment and decided her mom must have gone to work early that day. With a shrug, she crawled onto the kitchen counter to dig through the cabinets that hung out of her reach. She grabbed a package of fruit snacks and sat on the counter, swinging her legs back and forth to create a steady rhythm of thumps as her feet hit the cupboards below.

"Moooom? Daaaaaaaaaaad?" she called through a mouth full of fruit snacks.

Her voice echoed throughout the kitchen, but there was no response from her parents.

"Must be gone still," Aelita decided.

She tossed the final fruit snack into her mouth before hopping off the counter. She crinkled up the wrapper in a small fist and threw it away as she skipped past the garbage and towards the stairs. Once she made it to the top, she took a right turn to get to her room. She threw her backpack on her bed and plopped down beside it, looking out her doorway to the door across the hall leading to her parents room. That's when she noticed that their door was closed.

"They only close that when they get ready in the morning," Aelita's brow wrinkled in confusion.

Being the curious girl that she was, she stood from her bed and walked towards the room. As she walked she found that the hall seemed longer than usual, the houses eerie silence causing her to feel nervous. Each step she took didn't seem to take her anywhere. With another nervous glance at her parents' door, she found that it was open a crack. She couldn't make out anything through the crack, but she figured it was a sign that her parents might be in there. So, she continued down the hall, fear creeping its way into her stomach. But why? Why was she afraid?

After what seemed like hours of walking, Aelita came to a halt at her parents' door. She knocked on it softly but received no reply. She knocked again, louder this time, calling for her parents. With no response she opened the door a few inches more only to fall back away from it in shock. The narrow crack in the door revealed to her a large red puddle.

"B-Blood?" Aelita asked no one in particular, her voice several octaves higher than usual.

Was it really blood? It couldn't be right? Aelita kept repeating that to herself, it couldn't be blood, it wasn't possible. With that she gained enough courage to shove the door open the rest of the way, but as soon as she did so she regretted it. In fact, she would regret it for the rest of her life. A few feet from the door lied her mother, her face stuck in a look of horror, blood covering her pretty face.

Aelita starred at her in terror, the foul odor of death creeping towards her, trying to wrap its cold fingers around her body. Tears began to flood her eyes so she quickly looked away from her mother only to find that her father was lying a few feet away from her. His face wasn't facing her but she could see blood surrounding him on the floor as well.

"No…" Aelita mumbled, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks.

Lying dead on the floor before Aelita were her parents.

"NO!" she screamed as if her words would make this all go away. But her parents remained motionless on the floor and she couldn't make sense of it. They had just taken her to school that morning. Aelita remembered how her mom kept fretting with her dress, trying to wipe off the dirt that Aelita had managed to smear into it on their way to school. Her dad on the other hand just laughed and messed up Aelita's hair.

Before departing they had hugged her and kissed her, telling her to have a great day at school.

"We love you!" they had said to her before she ran off to attend class.

Now they were dead, their final words echoing inside the head of their daughter. Aelita was alone in the world, alone and scared. She shuffled into the room, holding her hand to her face to try and keep the smell of death away. Everything began to blur as her tears continued to flow nonstop.

All Aelita could bring herself to do was close their eyes and mouths to rid their beautiful faces of the horrified expressions they wore. Now it was almost like they were sleeping.

What was she supposed to do now? Maybe they were actually sleeping, or maybe she was the one sleeping. In a few hours she'd wake up to find that this was all a nightmare, then she could run to her parents and get lost in their loving embrace. But deep inside her a voice told her they were gone, she had to leave. If she didn't leave she could die too.

Before she even knew what she was doing, she was in her room, throwing things into a bag. Aelita wasn't even aware of what she threw into the bag; she just knew she had to leave. She didn't know where to go or why she was even leaving, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

Soon she found herself dragging her bag down the stairs to the kitchen, filling the rest of the empty space with food. Then after grabbing a few pictures off the fridge she left the house.

Aelita closed the door gently behind her and looked up to the sky. She noted the sun could barely be seen over the horizon.

"Now what?" she murmured to herself, fresh tears beginning to run down her cheeks.

"Come on Yukio! Hurry up!" Rin yelled, practically dragging his brother to school.

"I-I'm trying Nii-san!" Yukio panted.

Today was one of the first days Rin was excited to go to school. Yukio was feeling better so Rin could introduce him to his new friend, Aelita, but Yukio was so slow! Rin couldn't let Aelita get to school first!

"We're almost there!" Rin called to his brother who was beginning to fall behind.

Father Fujimoto picked Yukio up and sat him on his shoulders. "Easy Rin! Yukio just got over a cold you know."

"But I can't let Aelita win!" Rin said as he burst through the school door. He looked around in excitement and found that he had beaten her to school.

"YES!" he cheered.

Father Fujimoto sat Yukio down on the ground and let him try and calm Rin down as he went to talk to the teacher.

"Nii-san, don't yell," Yukio said quietly.

Rin smiled, "Sorry, I'm just excited!"

"Is this girl your girlfriend or something?" Yukio asked curiously.

"Of course not!" Rin scowled.

Yukio gave a quiet laugh as Rin grumbled to himself. The boys almost missed the group of kids nearby who were whispering about the same person Rin was waiting for.

When the twins realized the kids were talking about Aelita they quickly listened in.

"Yeah! The cops didn't know they were dead til morning, and they still haven't found Aelita's body!" a chubby boy announced.

"That could mean she didn't die though, couldn't it?" a quiet girl chimed in hopefully.

"Well what else do you think happened?" the leader of the conversation said.

"Maybe she'll be raised by wolves!" a kid pitched in.

"Or she killed herself after seeing her parents," another girl said, tears in her eyes.

"Well, one thing is for sure, I told her something like this would happen," the leader said.

"You did?" most of the kids said in unison.

"Yup, I sure did. I told her that talking to demons is bad luck, but she went and played with Rin anyway, now she's either dead or as good as dead!" the leader said, acting all high and mighty for his accurate prediction.

"That's awful!" a girl sobbed.

"GAH! The demon boy is right there!" somebody shouted.

Then the kids scattered, leaving an emotionless Rin, and a startled Yukio behind them.

"N-Nii-san?" Yukio said nervously, glancing at his brother.

Rin wouldn't look at him; he stared at the floor, his bangs shadowing his eyes, but they couldn't hide the tears dripping off his chin.

Aelita was gone, and it was all his fault.

** I'm sorry about all the sad. ;~; The next chapter will be happier, I promise! I love feedback, so leave a review so I can improve future chapters! Please and thank you! **

** ~Scottie**


	4. 4 - A New Beginning

3 days. She'd been wandering the streets for 3 days and she'd already ran out of food. Now, cold, hungry, and alone, Aelita stood outside a small sandwich shop, eyeing the happy people that sat in the warmly illuminated building. Her eyes were so drawn to the cheery faces as people chatted idly with each other that she didn't notice the odd looks she was getting from the people walking past her outside of the shop. Though many people walked by her without much thought, a man eventually stopped to find out what she was doing.

"You look a little young to be out on your own," he said to her, making her jump slightly as she turned towards him. She stared up at him owlishly without uttering a word.

"What's your name?" the man asked.

"Aelita," she mumbled.

"Are your parents around, Aelita?"

The tiny brunette fidgeted nervously, her hands playing idly with the ribbon that hung limply from her hair.

"They're dead, aren't they?"

Hesitantly, she nodded, baffled that he guessed that without much interrogation.

The man crouched down in front of her, allowing them to be at eye level. "Then you're the girl I'm looking for."

Aelita's brows furrowed as she eyed the man before her. Now that he wasn't towering over her she found it easier to take in his appearance. If she had to describe him in one word, it would probably be 'clown'. He dressed in a white suit top accompanied by poofy shorts and stripped pink pants. Around his neck he wore a pink polka dot kerchief and atop his head was a white top hat. He also wore a long cape that had a tall collar that stuck straight up as if it were trying to reach his curious hat. Though his appearance was anything but subtle, her attention was drawn to the tiniest detail of his ensemble. On the collar of his suit jacket, to the left of his polka dot kerchief, was a familiar red and blue pin that Aelita thought looked a bit like a heart that had been stretched out.

"My parents had these too," she murmured, her hand reaching absently for the pin.

"They did indeed," the man smiled.

"Why do you have one?" Aelita asked.

"Because I, like your parents, am an exorcist," he explained.

"Exorcist?" she repeated the word, as if speaking it would help her understand it.

"That's right, an exorcist. We fight to protect the world from demons and sometimes, we die doing that," the man said.

Aelita released the man's pin and looked up at his face through teary eyes. "Did a demon k-kill my parents?"

"Ah, yes," he smiled grimly. "But I think that's a story for another day." With that he stood, outstretching a hand for Aelita to take. "My name is Mephisto Pheles. I was a friend of your parents."

After wiping her tears away, Aelita took his hand, "N-nice to meet you."

Mephisto beamed, keeping the girls tiny hand in his own as he began to walk down the sidewalk. "Now, we better get you some food and a decent place to stay for the night because tomorrow you've got a long day ahead of you. I know a man in America that is very anxious to see you so we'll have to get you out there as soon as possible."

"America? Who wants to see me?" Aelita asked, allowing Mephisto to lead her down the sidewalk.

"You're uncle, Nathan," he replied, noting how the girls hand tightened slightly around his fingers.

"Uncle Nate? I'm going to see him?"

"Actually, you're going to live with him. He's an exorcist that owns a church in America, you'll be safe there," Mephisto explained.

He looked down at the girl as she went silent and found that, for the first time that night, she was smiling. Granted, it was a small smile, but it was a smile none the less.

"So what do you say about stopping to get some food here?"

Aelita looked up at the brightly lit restaurant before them and her smile grew, "That sounds awesome! Thanks Mr. Pheles!"

Mephisto frowned, "Hey now, don't call me that. It makes me sound old!"

The little girl began to tug on his hand to try and get him into the restaurant faster. "If you don't hurry I'll never stop, _Mr. Pheles_," she snickered.

"Fine, fine," he chuckled as he was dragged into the restaurant.

As the two sat down and ordered, Aelita couldn't stop smiling. It seemed that her life wasn't over after all. In fact, it was only just beginning.

** This chapter was super short… but that's mostly because it wasn't one of the chapters I had already written. I felt like I needed to add a short little chapter to kind of show what happens to Aelita before I fast forward. Also! I'm aiming to update once a week after finals pass. I've had a lot of homework leading up to them so I apologize for the lack of updates… No school after this week though! Anyway, thanks for reading! **

** ~Scottie**


	5. 5 - Reunion

**Finally! I finished editing this chapter. I'm still not very happy with it… but I feel bad having such long breaks between updates so, here you guys go! Let me know what you think. I love reading reviews and even just getting people that favorite or follow my story is great! This is my first story I've posted anywhere so I'm still iffy about whether or not it's any good, but all the support keeps me writing. Thank you all! Also, mummy okumura asked about how to pronounce Aelita's name. It's pronounced like eye-lee-tah. Sorry for any confusion! I forget that Code Lyoko isn't popular anymore so more people won't recognize the name from that. Thanks for asking mummy okumura! And also thanks to starbringer, niky1dfan, death by love, and renna for your reviews as well! They're much appreciated!**

**~Scottie**

Rin woke up to a loud thud. His head shot up off his desk, a piece of paper sticking to his cheek. A quick look out the window above his desk showed that the sun had just about set.

"I must've fallen asleep while doing this homework," he mumbled as he brushed the paper off of his face.

Rin stretched as he surveyed his room in mild confusion; what had caused that sound? He noticed that there was no sign of his brother… maybe that thud was the sound of the door closing as he left?

Rin's thoughts were interrupted as Kuro hopped onto his desk, an unsettled look on his face.

"Hey buddy, you know where Yukio went?" Rin asked him.

It lifted a paw and pointed to the roof. 'Did you not hear that loud noise?' it thought.

Rin just stood up and patted him on the head and with a quick "thanks" he left the room.

He walked down the hall, up the stairs, and towards the roof. He found it sort of odd that Yukio would be up on the roof of all places, and what was it that he was doing there? Shooting his guns off on the roof? It was an odd time for shooting practice. When Rin reached the door to the roof he heard another bang, though it sounded nothing like a gunshot. He opened the door slowly, his eyes immediately falling on his brother who was lying a few feet from the door.

"Whoa! Yukio, you alright?" Rin knelt beside his brother.

Yukio didn't answer, but Rin could see the steady rise and fall of his chest indicating he was still breathing. There wasn't any blood to be seen either, so he must be fine, just knocked out.

"What happened to you?" Rin mumbled as he poked his brother's cheek to try and wake him.

Then behind him he heard another bang, similar to the one he heard before. Rin turned around, taking a fighting stance to protect his brother from whatever was on the roof with them. His eyes scanned the increasing darkness in search of what had attacked his brother, but instead found a girl pinned to a wall by what seemed to be a large, black demon. It was hard to see it as the sky grew darker and darker, but Rin could make out that the demon's piercing fangs were inches from the girl's face. The demon would have been looking straight into her eyes if it had any, instead it only had white spots where the eyes should have been. It snarled at her, prepared to strike at any moment.

Rin's hand reached for his sword instinctively but stopped a few inches away from it when he noticed another man on the roof. Behind the demon stood an exorcist. Rin didn't recognize him or the girl but he figured the exorcist was there to stop the demon. Or had he summoned the demon? Either way, there had to be a good explanation as to what was going on so Rin remained where he was and watched, hidden from them by the shadows.

"Well this is unfortunate," Rin heard the exorcist say, "First I attacked the wrong boy and now I have to kill you for witnessing it."

"He attacked the wrong boy?" Rin mumbled, glancing at his brother.

"You shouldn't have jumped in to help him; maybe you would have gotten away." The exorcist sighed, shaking his head. "You are such a pretty girl… Oh well, you must understand killing you is for a good cause. Once you are gone I can rid this world of Rin Okumura, the son of Satan. Why he was allowed to live I'll never understand."

Rin continued to watch the scene unfold, speechless.

"Wh-why should I have to die?" the girl stuttered, obviously in pain. "It should be you dying for attacking that boy! If Rin Okumura has been allowed to live then you should just back down now and pretend you never-" the girl choked before she could continue, the demon's grip tightening around her.

The demon's master laughed, "You realize either way I'd have to kill you right? I can't have any witnesses! I'd be relieved of duty in seconds if anybody found out about this."

The exorcist motioned for the demon to attack the girl which managed to snap Rin back to reality. A deep scowl crossed his face and he drew his sword, blue flames erupting from him as well as his weapon.

"Oi, you! Mind telling me what you're doing?" He called to the exorcist.

The exorcist turned to see who it was that caught him and realized with joy that it had been the boy he was searching for. The man seemed delighted that Rin had showed up, a childish gleam of joy in his eye.

"Can't this wait a moment Okumura? I have to kill this girl before I kill you," he grinned.

The exorcist was obviously enjoying this as if it were a game he was about to win. He knew he had the winning hand. However, Rin wasn't as unskilled of a fighter as the exorcist thought he was. He could easily beat the exorcist if he played his cards right.

Rin growled and ran at the exorcist, slicing down at him with his sword.

The exorcist avoided the attack, "Watch it boy," he turned his head towards his demon, a wicked grin on his face and with that the girl cried out in pain.

Rin froze and looked over at the injured girl causing the exorcist to laugh.

"Didn't like that did you boy?" the exorcist grinned. "How about this? Let's play a little game Okumura; every time you attack me I harm this little girl here, sound good?"

Rin knew that he couldn't let harm come to her, she was completely innocent and she even helped his brother, but if he didn't fight wouldn't this man kill them all?

"Then again, she's a complete stranger to you isn't she?" the man continued. "You could just let her die; I wouldn't expect anything different from a demon. Try and fight me, the girl dies, but you could possibly win and get away with your brother," the exorcist added.

'Gah! Why won't this stupid exorcist shut up?' Rin thought. He needed to make a decision. He looked up at the girl as if she could possibly help him and to his surprise he recognized her. Was she a student here? No, she wasn't in the schools uniform, but what would someone be doing here if they weren't a student? So he continued to stare at her, and she stared back at him in confusion.

She almost reminded him of a girl he knew back in preschool… but that girl was dead. Wait, now she was trying to tell him something. Ugh, why was he so bad at reading lips!? The girl rolled her eyes and looked down at her hand in irritation which… wait, was that a blade in her hand? [1] He looked back at her face and nodded, he thought he understood.

Rin turned to the exorcist who grinned in triumph.

"You give up yet?" he chuckled.

Suddenly the exorcist's demon let out a loud cry of pain and dropped the girl as its hands reached up to its face, blood dripping from a long red line across it's 'eyes'. The exorcists face fell and now it was Rin's turn to grin.

"Nope."

Rin hit the man in the face with the hilt of his sword, effectively knocking him unconscious. Pfft, the idiot got distracted. Then he turned in time to see the girl getting kicked into a wall by the now uncontrolled demon.

Immediately Rin jumped into action, stabbing the demon in the face with his flaming sword. The beast gave one last screeching howl before disappearing back to the world which it came from. As soon as it was gone Rin looked wearily at the girl who the demon had kicked into the wall. He was nervous that she would be just as afraid of him as she was of the demon, she had heard he was the son of Satan after all. With a sigh, he sheathed his sword and approached the girl. She glanced up at him as he approached, but her gaze fell back to her feet as she pulled herself into a sitting position.

Rin knelt down beside her and asked, "You okay?"

"Eh, I've been better," she said with a weak smile.

'That smile,' Rin thought to himself. 'It's so familiar.' He tried to peek beneath her bangs to see what she looked like, but a shuffling sound caused him to turn his gaze to his brother.

Yukio was coming back to his senses it seemed. He let out a groan as he sat himself up and Rin turned his attention back to the injured girl.

The girl heard Yukio as well and looked up to determine that it wasn't the exorcist moving around. As her eyes watched the younger twin, Rin got a good look at her face and he just about choked. The girl sitting before him was none other than Aelita, his old friend from preschool. A wave of different emotions hit him as he realized it was her, alive and well. He was ecstatic, shocked, confused, and then worried. If this was Aelita did she remember him? Did she blame the death of her parents on him? He also found it rather strange that she was completely unfazed by the fact that he was a demon. She even knew he was the son of Satan! Whether or not she remembered him this should have fazed her.

Rin sat next to her, "You know, I don't think I've seen you here before, just transferred?" He figured that a question like this would determine whether or not she remembered him.

"K-kind of…" she mumbled.

Rin frowned. She didn't remember him. Luckily the girl didn't notice the disappointment on his face as she looked up at Yukio.

He had made his way over to the two and stood in front of them. "So you're the girl that's been sneaking around the school grounds."

Aelita looked frightened. "H-hey! I stopped that man from killing you! I-I don't think I deserve to be arrested or anything, I'm not doing any harm!" she said quickly, her voice full of panic.

"At the very least you should be tossed off the school grounds," Yukio stated.

She flinched as if his words were a slap to the face. She then grumbled in pain because flinching did cause her injuries to bother her.

"But you also show potential to be an exorcist," he said as he picked up a sword that was lying a few feet away from where she sat now.

"So?" she asked in confusion.

"I'm going to see if I can get you enrolled here," he said with a smile.

"…Seriously?" she asked, completely dumbfounded.

Yukio nodded.

She blinked in confusion as the boy next to her grinned. He elbowed her gently and said, "Looks like we'll be going to school together." He wanted to mention that this was the second time they'd be going to school together, but she didn't remember him… so maybe he'd just have to help her remember.

A smile played across Aelita's face and she threw her arms in the air with a cheer. This led to her lying on the ground, grumbling in pain.

Yukio sat in front of her and examined her, gently prodding her ribs, arms, and legs to check for broken bones.

"It seems like you've twisted your ankle, maybe bruised a few ribs, along with some minor cuts and bruises," he concluded.

"For minor injuries they sure hurt," she mumbled. "Well, I should go see a doctor in town, huh?" she asked, attempting to stand. She failed miserably and fell back down.

"You're also exhausted from your fight. Rin, please carry her to our room, I'll be able to treat her injuries."

"Wha-what?" she stuttered, a blush creeping across her cheeks.

"I'm training to be a doctor, you're injuries are very minor so I should be able to fix you up," Yukio stated.

"I-I'm fine, I can walk," she said, still blushing slightly. She obviously didn't enjoy the idea of being carried.

She managed to stand up by herself alright, but she only managed to take a few steps before tumbling backwards, Rin catching her.

"Yup, you're just fine," Rin grinned.

"Shut up," she grumbled, her blush growing more intense.

"We have a few extra beds in our room so you can stay overnight while you recover," Yukio said.

"Wait, wha-" Aelita was interrupted as Rin picked her up.

"Relax! I'm not that scary!" Rin laughed as the girl in his arms stuttered, trying to form words but failing miserably.

"Also, I will need to know your name as well as the names of your parents, I can't exactly enroll you here without your name or without your parent's consent," Yukio said.

"Oh, well I'm Aelita. I, uh, don't have parents," she stated.

"Ah, I see," Yukio stated awkwardly, glancing at his brother. "Well, I don't think there will be a problem getting you enrolled. Let's take her to our room to tend to those injuries," he said to Rin as he turned to leave.

Rin nodded and followed his brother.

They were all quiet as they walked, lost in their own thoughts. Rin couldn't keep his mind off of Aelita. If she did remember him… wouldn't she hate him? She must blame the death of her parents on him. He glanced down at her only to find her staring right back at him, causing him to blush slightly.

Luckily Aelita didn't notice, she was too busy trying to hide her own blush.

"S-sorry," she mumbled.

Whether she remembered him or not, for now, he was just glad to see her again.

**For any of you that may not have understood why I threw a little [1] earlier in this chapter, it's because I've got a note that might put a little insight into what is happening. Sometimes I write things that are unclear or need explaining, so I'll have notes every now and again. **

**[1] Like Shura, Aelita has tattoos on her body that she can pull swords from. Aelita only has them on the palms of her hands though. **


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